


I'll Be Waiting

by Inrainbowz



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Doing the Right Thing, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Translation Available, but mostly angst i'm afraid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 17:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8810200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inrainbowz/pseuds/Inrainbowz
Summary: Percival knew it was going to end like this, knew Newt’s compulsion to rescue any living creature he crossed path with, especially illegal and dangerous ones, would come between them eventually. He knew it, but he had hoped they would have more time. 
       Newt can't obey the law, and Percival can't break it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> When I went out of the movie theater I though I wouldn't ship anything in this movie. Haha. I think I read 90% of the fanfics on this pairing, so this is the natural progression I guess, although I'm all about fluff for this too and look at what I wrote. I don't know, I couldn't get out of my head that Newt's activity would eventually stop being cute and start having dramatic consequences. The Law is Hard but it's the Law haha, it's the Shadowhunters fandom, I can't seem to escape it, even here.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this!
> 
> Translation in russian available [here](https://ficbook.net/readfic/5450432) thanks to Jane Banks!

If he was being honest – and he rarely lied to himself – Percival would admit he knew it wouldn't last. Had known from the start, but he had said nothing, for Newt's sake as much as his own. He should have put an end to this before it even started, but he admitted it, he had been selfish. In a burst of complete self-indulgence, he had let the young man into his life, his bed, his heart. Newt, carefree and oblivious to the real ways of the world, the human world at least, had plunged into it headfirst, not stopping once to think about how bad an idea it was. What good would it have done anyway? Percival had stopped and think, and he still had gone along with it.

Even if he knew that it wouldn't last.

He was looking at Newt’s nervous pacing, his hands twisting in a painful looking grip, and he could almost see the thoughts swirling in his brain, how he was still trying to find a solution to the situation, other than the obvious one. Percival had already given up. There was no way out of this. Other than the obvious one.

"You have to do something," Newt pleaded for the umpteenth time. Percival sighed deeply, a long, drawn out sigh, that had more to do with despair than tiredness. He wished Newt wouldn't make it so difficult, wished he would accept the inevitable outcome, so that they could both move on. He gave him the same answer he had for the past few hours.

"There’s nothing I can do. I can’t, and I won't. This is the law, Newt."

The magizoologist rolled his eyes at that, and Percy smiled in spite of himself. He knew that particular answer annoyed the young man greatly, but one of them had to be law abiding enough so that they wouldn't both end up in jail, or worse. He had tried to make him understand, several time, that it wouldn’t always be fun and game, that maybe a time would come when Percival wouldn’t be able to let it slide. Newt hadn’t really taken it seriously – what he did was right, in his eyes, he couldn’t comprehend why it caused such issues. He brushed off those pesky legal concerns, because he was _right_. Percival had come to believe it too, but still what mattered to him wasn’t “right”, it was “lawful”.

"The law is wrong.”

“But it's the law," Percival added calmly, a steady and stable force to Newt's restless and wild one. He knew his stillness unnerved Newt. It caused him distress, because he thought it meant Percival didn't care. It wasn't true. Percival cared too much, and his resolved was close to breaking. If he moved, maybe he would give in, change his mind, and they couldn’t have that. It was impossible.

"I won't watch her being put to death," New said firmly and yeah, that he had also said before, that Percival knew perfectly well. He understood, even, and not for the first time since he had met Newt, he wished he viewed the world in a similar fashion, wished he could be bolder, more mindless of laws and duties, more like Newt. He wasn’t though. He couldn't change himself even if he wanted to.

Newt refused to come to the same conclusion he had yet, but he would, eventually.

Percival knew it wouldn't last. He knew it, but he had hoped they would have more time. Some of Newt’s activities he could turn a blind eye on, some of his creatures he could ignore, but not this time.

Had it been any other creature, any beast at all, maybe it wouldn't have gone this way. Maybe he could have convinced Newt that sometimes he simply couldn't save them, even if it wasn't fair, even if he desperately wanted to. Maybe staying by his side would have been enough for Newt to let it go, just once. Somehow Percival was grateful it hadn't come to that. He wasn't sure he could have bear Newt being strayed from his moral principles by his feelings for him.

It didn't matter anyway, because it wasn’t just another beast.

It was a teenage girl.

A perfectly ordinary teenage girl, once they had managed to get to her, and the full moon had disappeared from the sky. Not so ordinary just a few hours before, when she had attacked a ballroom full of people, or the night before, when in her feral state she had turned against her own parents.

Percival wondered if this one even wanted to be saved, but Newt didn't see things like that. He couldn't, or he wouldn't have saved half the beast in his case. The last of their species, the ones whose environment and pack were destroyed, the ones who could never walk free again, it was all the same to the magizoologist. He just couldn't watch any living creature die. He would have argued against even Gellert Grindelwald's death sentence, Percival was sure, had the man not escaped custody. There was no doubt in the auror's mind the dark mage would meet his end eventually, but it wasn't something Newt liked to hear or think about.

Like he didn't want to hear what would happen to the girl in the care of the MACUSA's swift justice.

"She killed a lot of people," Percival felt obliged to remind his lover, like it could change anything, like everything wasn't set already.

"She didn't meant to," Newt answered automatically. "She couldn't control it."

"And would she be able to, next time?"

"Werewolves can be very good at reigning on their instincts. They keep to themselves and train their own. There are a lot more of them than wizards think, a testimony to how good they became at fighting their own nature."

Percival had to take his words for it. There was no law in any country he knew of that protected werewolves, but there was a great deal that condemned them. They lived in hiding. The girl had probably cross path with a rogue one, a dramatic encounter that had turned her life upside down. She had survived the attack, but it would have been better if she hadn’t.

"And I suppose you know that because you've met some."

Newt nodded with the ghost of a smile, the first concession to the serious frown that had deformed his face since they had come back to Percival’s house. It was much telling of Newt’s influence on him, that he had agreed to come back here instead of taking the girl straight to MACUSA. She was asleep and restrained in the case for now, but they were running out of time. Soon Percival would have to go back to work and account for their action. They had to make a decision soon.

Or well, they had to voice the decision both of them knew they had already made.

The clock in the next room rung eight o’clock in the morning and made Newt jump more than he should have for such a usual sound. He stilled, seemingly taking notice of time running out, and all energy left him. His shoulders sagged, his gaze fell on the floor. Percival had never seen him so defeated. He hated it.

"I'm sorry," Newt murmured quietly. He met Percival’s eyes briefly before training them back on his shoes, and Percival wanted nothing more than to cross the distance between them and erase that look from his lover's face. He couldn't though. He stood up from the bed and approached the other man, but he couldn't touch him. They were only a few feet apart but it could as well have been a thousand miles. Newt was already gone.

He had already lost him.

"What for?" he asked, voice gentle like no one outside of Newt had probably ever heard.

"I can't let her die. I have to bring her to safety, I have to."

He seemed almost pained by that, and Percival figured that maybe he wasn’t the only one who wished he could go against his nature.

"I know. I knew when I brought us back here."

"I'm sorry," Newt said again.

"Don’t be."

"I am. I'm sorry for being this way," he said, helpless, and that Percival couldn’t bear. He didn’t want Newt to apologize for who he was, for doing what he always did. If it wasn’t for their relationship, the man would have been on his way already, not looking back. In a way it was what they had that caused him pain now, that made him doubt where he never had before, and Percival felt guilty for it. He rested a gentle hand on Newt’s cheek, raising his head slightly so that their eyes could meet. It had been a longtime since the wizard had shied away from his gaze like that.

"Please, please don't be. I wouldn't want you any different, were you anyone else, I wouldn’t love you."

Percival winced at the soft, distressed sound that escaped Newt’s throat. He had chosen the worst moment possible to confess this. They weren’t' supposed to be in love. It wasn’t love they had, it was something simpler, something they could easily walk away from. Or it was supposed to be anyway.

They had both failed spectacularly at this.

"I'm sorry for doing this to you then. For... for tricking you."

"Newt, please, stop. I knew what I was getting into. I knew you wouldn't stay put forever, and that I wouldn't be enough."

Newt frowned at that, getting angry.

"You are. You are enough. I’ve never stayed so long in one place before. If I could..."

"I know, I know," Percival amended, not wanting to fight right now. "But it was always going to end like this, Newt. You are a free spirit, unconcerned by men's order and drawn to the entire world, and I take pride in my upholding of the law, in the care of my city. I don’t want to hold you back."

"You've thought about this," Newt said, and he sounded guilty. Because he hadn’t probably, but Percival didn't fault him for that. It had been nice, for Newt to be so confident, so unworried about their fate. It had helped Percival to savor the moment without dreading its end.

"I have," he admitted.

"And yet..."

Newt didn't finish, but he didn't have to. Percival rested his forehead against his.

"You were worth it," he whispered against his lips before kissing them gently. He couldn't help it, and he knew he had to make the most of their time, because it was slowly but surely drawing to an end.

"I'm such a fool," Newt said when they parted, an unhappy frown creasing his brow. Percival kissed it, willing his troubles away.

"My fool," he answered, and was rewarded by the smallest of smile on Newt's face. It didn't last though. The case rattled, as if to remind them of what was at stake.

"I'll tell them I lost sight of you, and that you ran away," Percival said. Newt winced, and the auror wished he could avoid talking about this, but they had to. He was the pragmatic one, and he had never been known to shy away from the truth, or his duty, as hard as they both could be.

"Maybe I'll come back," Newt said weakly. They both new it was unlikely to happen, at least not before a very long time. He had been treated with mercy as gratitude for his help with Grindelwald and the Obscurial, but this would be one offence too many. He wouldn't be welcomed in the city anymore, no matter how welcomed he would always be into Percival’s home. He took the man in, his face, his gentle eyes, the way he splayed his hands on Percival’s chest when they were this close, fingers playing with the collar of his shirt. How he was going to miss this, miss him.

"You could come with me," Newt tried, and they actually both laughed shortly at that. Newt knew it was absurd as soon as he said it. Percival was as attached to his city as Newt was to his case. The difference was the case could follow him anywhere - New York couldn't. Percival almost considered it though. For the briefest of moment, he imagined taking Newt’s hand, close the door of his house without turning and never come back. It was elating, but it would never come to be.

“I guess it really was doomed from the start," Newt mumbled, looking upset.

"Do you regret it?" Percival couldn't help but ask, masochist as he was. Newt's eyes widened with horror and anger as if he was offended by the question.

"No," he answered firmly. His resolve broke though when he asked in return, "do you?"

Percival kissed his forehead again.

"Never."

He knew it was going to end like this, knew Newt’s compulsion to rescue any living creature he crossed path with, especially illegal and dangerous ones, would come between them eventually. Knew that his young lover would take the girl under his wing as soon as they understood what they were dealing with. Now that he thought about it, if anyone could help her, it was Newt. After all, he had help him, had managed to save him in more way than one. He had been in a dark place after the whole ordeal with Grindelwald. Newt had nursed him back to health and to himself seemingly as he did with his beast, with great love and care, and Percival had never told him, but he doubted he would have survived without him.

He could never regret that. He trusted he would save the girl too. It was worth it.

"I'll give you a few hours. You can be out of the city and far away by then,” Percival said even if it cost him. Like this, with Newt safely tucked in his arms and the rumble of the awakening city barely a whisper outside the window, he could pretend that time would stand still, that the hour would never end and they could stay like this forever.

"I'll come back," Newt said again, more assured than before.

"Newt..."

"No." He looked at him with fierce determination, leaving Percival speechless.

"I'll come back," he repeated, dead serious.

Percival smiled despite himself, despite everything. He bent to kiss him again, and it tasted of something final, but not finished.

"I'll be waiting then."

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the first time I post in english without having it checked by my beta first. Tell me if it's okay or if I should be ashamed, and feel free to correct any mistakes please! Thank you for reading, I'm on [tumblr](http://inrainbowz.tumblr.com) and I love you.


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